Darker than Silver
by EraAstra
Summary: Working title! Suggestions are appreciated. Centred on original character, Astria Stargazer, whose parentage/affiliation will be discovered later. :) Also, Hunters of Artemis, Thalia and (possibly) camp mentioned. Rated K for mild violence and death. No mature themes, people. Gosh.
1. The Beginning

_Light. Blinding, searing light. She squirmed in her blanket and buried her head under the folds. But the light shone through, and hurt her skin. She wailed for her mother, but no one answered. Unaccustomed to being ignored, she gazed around plaintively, but her mother and sister were nowhere in sight. The nursery was in ruins, broken by the sheer force of the light, and limp forms flopped on the ground were the only other things in the room. _

_Then footsteps shook the ground as glowing white beings appeared out of the brightness. She squinted and covered her eyes with one pudgy baby hand. The beings converse in hushed tones, as they draw nearer. She crawls over to one of the forms and takes refuge in it's shadow, the darkness like a balm on burned skin. It smells familiar. "Mama?" she asks quietly. It is her mother. But the baby somehow knows that she's different. That's she's dead, along with her sister. She howls, but softly, as her survival skills are already kicking in. _

_The forms come closer, and she quails in fear. One crouches down to the ground and sniffs her mother's head deeply. "Dead." it says in a satisfied voice. "That's all of them." And tears run down the baby's face as her worst fear—or what is, at this early moment, her worst fear—is confirmed. _

_"Wait." The second being has approached. It stares with blazing eyes of pure light, right at the spot where she hides. "Nevermind." The beings stalk away on legs made of light so bright it is solid, and disappear. The light fades, leaving all consuming, comforting darkness. _

_She has done it. She has survived and hidden, though she does not understand how. _

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Astria Stargazer woke up in a sweat, sitting straight up. She looked around wildly for a moment, then remembered where she was. She patted the ground and grabbed a makeshift knife, made out of cut tin. Breathing heavily, Astria stood up and brushed herself off. The ground was cold and dirty, with uncomfortable knots in the wrong places, but sleeping in the wild for the best part of her life had made Astria tough and resilient. She could sleep anyway. If the nightmares didn't come.

They were getting worse. She was now waking in terror, panicked, with mysterious burns on her arms and legs. Astria never remembered what the nightmares were about; they were just blurs of pain and sorrow and fear and anger. Yes. Anger. Anger even then, for she was sure it was a long time ago, if these things had ever taken place.

Astria was angry about a lot of things; her mother, for dying; her father (whoever he was), for never showing up; the social workers whose efforts to take her to a foster home were carefully evaded every time; and most of all, the world who had scorned her and burned her and hurt her and, once that was all finished, had thrown her out on the streets to fend for herself, from year to year to year.

Anger was a good thing. It helped her survive.


	2. The Frog-Beast

The day was clear and cool, with a small frosty bite in the air. It was late October in the English countryside, and fall was slowly declining into winter. Astria trudged through the piles of fallen leaves, all colours of crimson, orange and gold. It was quiet, and all noises were amplified and echoed by the tall foreboding houses. She could hear her own footsteps crunching through leaves, her own breath. But there was something else as well, something carefully matching her pace, something trying desperately not to step loudly on the crackling leaves. Astria clenched her fists tightly. She pushed one hand inside a pocket of her ripped leather jacket. Her fingers curled around the jagged piece of tin, a kind of weapon to protect against the many dangers that stumbled into her life.

Astria counted under her breath and forced a jauntiness into her step. _One, two, three..._ She rounded the corner and whirled around, knife in hand. A small shape about knee height rounded the corner. It looked like a furry toad, with buggy eyes and bowed legs. It blinked at Astria and hissed. She blinked as well. With the kind of menacing feeling she'd had, she had expected something more—well, dangerous.

Suddenly, the toad began to swell, like it was preparing to croak. The problem was, it kept swelling until it was over 12 feet tall, looming over Astria. She swore.

Now, any other normal person would have been shocked out of their wits by the appearance of a strange giant toad creature. Not Astria. On the scheme of strange things in her life, this ranked a 1. Maybe a 2, on a good day.

It hissed again, and made a swipe for her with it's gooey clawed hands. Astria ducked out of the way, and stabbed it in the arm. It spat greenish smoking acid at her, and she leapt to the side, narrowly missing disintegration. The frog-beast lurched forwards, its protruding belly making an easy target. She lunged forwards and scraped her knife across it's soft skin, scoring an ugly gash across. It withdrew, as dark blood dripped onto the sidewalk, snarling and waiting for an opportunity. Astria, however, wasn't sticking around. She saw her chance and ran for a nearby outstretch of woods, the thick trees providing some hope of escape.

Astria pushed through the branches of pines, needles slapping her in the face like tiny, flexible needles. Elbowing her way through a particularly stubborn tree's branches, she emerged in a small clearing completely surrounded by trees. She froze in place and listened to the frog-beast hunt around for her, floppy feet slapping on the ground. Astria held her breath and waited. The trees' bushy foliage protected her from sight, and the frog-beast clearly didn't have a very good sense of smell, as it turned away after a few seconds.

Peeking through the trees, Astria watched the frog-beast shrink back into the odd creature with bowed legs and bulging eyes, and wander down the road. She sighed heavily and flopped into a cross-legged position on the needle-y ground.

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Behind the protective unseen bubble, the Hunters stared at the sitting girl. They had just watched her fight a spriggan and then retreat to the secluded copse. Now, they watched her look for food in her pockets and clean the blade of a make-shift knife. It had been Thalia's quick thinking that had saved them from exposure, erecting a bubble of Mist around the camp while the rest of the Hunters were still in their tents. The campfire crackled merrily in the ring of silver tents, shooting crimson sparks into the air. A kettle of tea slowly heated to a boil near the fire, and wolves wove in between the tents, patrolling and keeping watch.

The Hunters themselves, however, were grouped in a silent crowd at the edge of the bubble, not more than a few feet from the girl. There were about seven of them, all dressed in matching silver hoodies and dark jeans. Behind them, a graceful auburn-haired girl slipped out of the main tent and approached them, the Hunters parting respectfully in front of her.

"My lady Artemis," said Thalia, bowing her head to the goddess. Artemis smiled.

"Thalia." she said lightly, though her tone conveyed many layers of subtlety. "I wish to speak with you, in private."

Thalia nodded, and followed the goddess back to her tent, where they took seats on soft rugs.

"What do you make of her?" asked Artemis, pouring a cup of nectar. She sipped it like tea, and Thalia wondered briefly what it tasted like to her before she considered the question.

"Well, my lady, she seems rather resourceful, and definitely brave." Artemis nodded for Thalia to continue. "Her knife is made out of cut tin, a clear sign of ingenuity, and she was quick with fighting the spriggan. I think she may be a demigod, and a powerful one, as she seemed very unsurprised by the appearance of a large monster."

"I agree." said Artemis, offering a cup of tea to Thalia who took it gratefully. The evenings were already getting colder, although the tent was reasonably warm. "I sensed a kind of power from her, and I suspect she has godly blood. She seems a worthy maiden, and in need of my help. As the patron and protector of all girls, I owe her that. We will open our camp to her, for the night, and..." She did not finish the sentence, though Thalia knew what she had been about to say. _And she might decide to become a Hunter in the morning._ One of their number, a girl named Delia, had died earlier that day in a fight with a well-wyrm, and both hoped that the mysterious girl would choose to join the Hunt as a sister. However, Thalia was forced to speak up, at least on behalf of her sisters.

"My lady, while it is not my place to disagree, the rest of the Hunters may be upset to find their dead sister so quickly replaced. I am worried as to—"

"Do not be." Artemis interrupted. Thalia blinked. It was uncharacteristic of her to interrupt anyone, and the goddess's unease about the new developments was becoming more apparent. "Increasingly rare is the girl who follows the true path of a huntress, or would be willing to become one." Artemis sighed. "Our numbers become fewer," she said, looking Thalia in the eye. "We need all the Hunters we can get."

Thalia stood and bowed. "Yes, my lady. May I welcome her to the camp?"

Artemis nodded, and gave her lieutenant leave to allow the girl into the camp. She watched the retreating Hunter's back and questioned the wisdom of her choice. It was a mark of the mounting desperation of the maiden goddess that she did not question it any further.


	3. The Hunters

Astria was woken from an unplanned snooze by the call of a hunting horn. She opened her eyes blearily and looked around. In the time it took for the Hunters to call off the bubble, Astria was standing up and completely alert, gripping her homemade knife tightly.

"Welcome," said a tall girl with black spiky hair, stepping forward. She had electric blue eyes and a friendly expression, though that did nothing to ease Astria's suspicions. She had gone to sleep completely alone, and woken up surrounded by a group of girls, and a phalanx of tents around a campfire. And the more she studied the girls, the more convinced she was that they were definitely not normal.

For instance, they were all dressed in matching silver hoodies and dark jeans, with black combat boots and silver quivers slung over their shoulders. Many of the long-haired ones had the top part of their hair braided back, and the main girl with the spiky hair had a silver circlet around her forehead.

"Welcome to what?" asked Astria guardedly, but not rudely; it didn't do well to offend armed people when you were outnumbered and possibly out-stripped in terms of talent.

"Welcome to the camp of the Hunters of Artemis." said the girl, with a trace of pride.

"The what?" Astria was now convinced that these people were either crazy, or...or like her. She didn't really want to consider the second option, in case it wasn't true.

"The Hunters of Artemis. We are immortal maidens who serve the goddess Artemis, and hunt alongside her as sisters. We're offering you a place in our camp for the night, as pine needles aren't the most comfortable things to lie on, and if you want..." the girl stopped abruptly.

"If I want...?" Astria raised an eyebrow. She had read about Artemis, the Greek goddess, and had sometimes entertained the possibility that she existed, though always in a slightly sceptical way.

"Never mind." The girl extended a hand. "I'm Thalia Grace, lieutenant of Lady Artemis. She wants to speak to you."

"I'm Astria Stargazer, wandering hooligan. How do you do?" She said politely. Thalia's brow furrowed slightly.

"That's an odd last name, 'Stargazer'." she said curiously.

"I'm an odd girl." said Astria evasively. She had no interest in divulging her personal life to this 'Thalia', no matter how friendly she seemed. Friendlier people had tried to kill her before.

"So I see." Thalia grinned, and led her through the group of girls—Hunters— to a large tent at the back of the camp. "The rest of the Hunters aren't very friendly to strangers; you'll have to forgive them for that. Come inside, please." she said, disappearing into the tent. Astria paused for a moment. There was still time to run, but she knew that she would never make it out of here alive. The Hunters looked pretty tough to her, and she was no match for them with a cut-tin knife. She ducked inside the tent.

The tent was warm and brightly lit with silver torches burning on the walls. A collection of strange furs were hung on the walls, from a pelt of spiny needles to, weirdly enough, a golden duster coat. The strangest thing in the tent though was the girl sitting in the middle of a large rug. She looked about eleven years old, with long, braided back, dark auburn hair and silver-yellow eyes like the harvest moon. She was also dressed in silver, and a glowing silver bow lay across her lap, along with a quiver of arrows.

"Greetings, Astria Stargazer. I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt and moon. Please, sit." she said serenely, gesturing to a rug across a low table, where Thalia was already sitting. Astria dropped into a cross-legged position and stared at the goddess expectantly. She was finding it surprisingly easy to believe that Artemis was real; after all the shocking and supposedly fabled creatures she had killed and almost been killed by, it wasn't too far of a stretch to assume that the Greek gods were real as well.

Artemis pushed a platter of what looked like tofu-burgers at Astria and told her to eat whatever she wanted. After a moment's hesitation, Astria picked up a burger and bit into it. It was probably the best thing she had ever tasted, though that wasn't saying much considering her normal meals were squashed Happy Meals and Twinkies. While she ate, Thalia and the goddess talked in quiet tones. Astria caught snatches of words, though strangely muffled, as though they were speaking from behind an invisible wall.

The phrase "half-blood" kept cropping up in conversation, as well as "Delia" and "worthy female". Suddenly, Artemis leaned back into the rug and smiled at Astria. "So, my dear, how are you feeling?"

Astria blinked. She'd never been asked that before; the questions commonly posed to her were more of a 'What are you doing, you delinquent?' sort. "Um...fine?" she said.

"Really?" said Thalia, turning to look at her. "You were just attacked by a fully-grown spriggan, and you feel fine?"

"Um...yeah? And what was that you said, 'spriggan'?" asked Astria curiously. She was beginning to get the sense that these people were the kind of people who could answer her questions.

"It's a Cornish monster that can swell to up to 20 times its size." said Thalia dismissively.

"Oh. Oh, right."

"The important thing is, is that you survived, and escaped. That's more than any un-trained person, mortal or demigod could have done easily." said Thalia, with a pointed look at Artemis.

The goddess sighed, and closed her eyes. "She is a demigod," she said. "Quite powerful, maybe even to your level, Thalia."

"Demigod? What the hell?!" asked Astria incredulously. She'd changed her mind; totally crazy.

"Demigod; half human, half Greek god." said Thalia, beaming. "I'm a daughter of Zeus."

"Zeus? Like the sky god?" Thunder rumbled.

"More than just a sky god," said Artemis. "He's also my father."

"Okay," said Astria, standing up quickly. "Do you mean to tell me, that you and all those—those Hunters are descendant from the GODS?"

"Not all of them. Some of them are nymphs, and mortals as well." said Thalia. "And you're descendant from them too. Which god, I don't know."

Astria sat down again with a thump, partially from the pure shock of it. _Half...god? Me? I couldn't be less godly if I tried._ "You, you must be mistaken."

Artemis smiled at her gently. "I am never mistaken. You are a demigod. Which brings us to another point; you, my dear, can stay with us for the night. In the morning, you and the Hunt may go our separate ways, and it is unlikely we will ever see each other again. I will direct you to Camp Half-Blood, where you can train and learn about your magical powers. Or, you may become one of my Hunters. You will become immortal unless you die in battle, and eternally young. You will also have enhanced senses, speed, agility, strength and aim. All my Hunters are gifted in archery. And you will serve me as a maiden for the rest of your life."

Astria thought about this for a minute. There was something about this goddess that made her trust her, made her think that spending an eternity serving her would be no bad thing. She turned to Thalia. "Is it worth it?"

Thalia nodded. "Oh, yes. Just, one more thing. You can't ever fall in love. And you can't socialize with guys."

That didn't seem to be much of downside. Astria had decided. "What must I do?" she asked Artemis.

Artemis smiled. "Say this oath. Once I accept, you are bound to it, and it to you..."

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Outside the tent in the dark, starry night, Astria breathed in the cool, clear air. She felt different since becoming a Hunter; stronger. More at peace. And that wasn't the only change; her senses were enhanced. She could hear the hoot of an owl over in the next field, could see bugs burrowing in the trunks of trees for the night, could taste the soot of the campfire in the air, could smell the lilacs from a tree two streets over as freshly as if they grew beside her. Finally, Astria's skin glowed silver, as if lit from within by a dimmer set of Lady Artemis's silver torches.

She inhaled slowly and smiled, simply enjoying the night. Astria always felt better in the night-time, as though everything inside her body clicked into place. She had better night-vision than most other people as well; for her, there was barely a difference in visibility when the sun set than when it was high in the sky. At night, Astria was alone, and she preferred it that way, to be perfectly honest.

Around Astria, the soft sounds of Hunters sleeping were audible through the light fabric of the tents. The campfire slowly burned down to charcoal in the centre of the camp. Behind her, Thalia and Lady Artemis were still cloistered in the main tent, to talk about 'other matters'. So Astria waited. She didn't mind.

And she didn't wait very long. Thalia soon came out of the tent, and smiled when she saw her. "Welcome, sister!" The daughter of Zeus threw her arms around a startled Astria and gave her hug. Astria immediately knew that she was not a hug person.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. "It's amazing, to be a Hunter. I feel so much stronger, like I've been dipped in strength-solution, or something," Astria said, not being quite able to describe what she meant. Thalia clapped her on the back.

"It's the best choice I ever made," she said, leading the way to one of the other silver tents. "All the rest of the Hunters will agree with us on that; you join a new family here, and for many demigods and mortals, too, that's something they lacked before,"

Astria nodded. She had never had a family, a good one or not. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask; how does that work? Like, how do mortals, demi—" She still had trouble getting her head around that. "—demigods all be part of the Hunters,"

"We don't discriminate. You're a Hunter no matter what species you are," said Thalia. She stopped by the third tent. "This is Lucinda's tent. You'll be rooming with her for now till we work out tent arrangements. She's a daughter of a dryad, half-nymph, half-mortal. She's nice and all, but I figured I'd warn you; she really, really likes pink. Her tent's a little gruesome when you first see it..." Astria grimaced sympathetically. She had always hated the colour.

"Still," Thalia grinned. "You'll like her plenty. She was, well, Delia's old tent-mate, before she died." She leaned against a tree. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Delia was one of us. She died today in an attack with a well-wyrm—a kind of monstrous dragon living in abandoned wells. The rest of the Hunters, well, they might not take your joining the Hunt so well as I did. You, becoming a Hunter the same day as Delia dying? They might think you're replacing her. But you're a tough girl," Thalia punched Astria good-naturedly in the shoulder. "You can take a bunch of annoyed Hunters."

_Too right I can,_ thought Astria. She said goodnight, and slipped into the tent silently. The first thing she noticed about it was the pink; pink shag carpet on the floor, pink pillows piled on a pink bed, pink wall-hangings, even pink torches burning dimly on the walls. They cast a small amount of light, as though turned on to night-light setting, which allowed Astria to notice the second thing. The tent was disproportionately large. The outside resembled a normal-sized, if a little small, camping tent, but the inside was like a spacious bedroom, complete with a desk, torches, proper beds and a chest of what looked like decapitated Barbies.

"Ahem." Astria looked over to the source of the sound and saw a small girl about nine years old sitting cross-legged on the bed. "Are you going to introduce yourself, or simply stare at my interior decorating?"

Astria approached cautiously, the rules for survival in an encounter with a bear echoing through her head like an un-helpful broken record. "I'm Astria Stargazer, daughter of—well, I don't know, and newly, Hunter of Artemis," Tacking on the 'Hunter of Artemis' felt strange, but also, correct, as though pieces were slotting into place.

"I know." said the girl, rolling her pale green eyes. "Thalia told me. I see you're sharing with me tonight." She scrutinized Astria carefully. "What's your opinion on pink?"

Astria scrolled through the possible answers in her head, and settled on truth. "I abhor it." The girl gave Astria a dirty look, and pulled up the covers on her bed.

"That's your side," she said, pointing to a bed on the other side of the cabin. It was plain and undecorated, as though recently stripped of all personal effects. "Don't come on to my side or I'll make rafflesia grow on your bed. I'm Lucinda. I _love _pink." Lucinda said, by way of an introduction. Shooting Astria another dirty look for good measure, she slid farther into the bed and turned off the torches. The tent was plunged into blackness, and Astria relaxed a little. She sat down on the edge of the bed, and stared into space.

It had been one surprising day. With an attack from a spriggan, and then meeting—becoming— a Hunter, learning that the Greek gods were real and she was the daughter of one of them, Astria was quite tired of surprises, though oddly, not tired at all.

After a moment of staring at the pink monstrosity that was the other side of the tent, Astria got to her feet silently and stepped out, to what she was sure was a whispered 'Good riddance'.

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The fire outside was finally dead, a pit of crumbling charcoal, and the camp was completely quiet. Astria headed out towards the edges of the camp and sat on a handy boulder. She sighed, and buried her face in her hands.

"Are you crying?" asked a gentle, if bemused, voice to the left of her. Astria whipped her head up and stared at the tall man who was standing nearby holding out a grey handkerchief.

"No, and who are you?" she asked, too fed-up with turns in plot for politeness.

"Oh. Good." said the man, replacing the handkerchief in a pocket. "I'm not very good with crying people. Or people at all." He sat on a boulder as well. "I'm Lord Hades, god of the dead." He regarded her sadly. "Your father."

Astria didn't know how he expected her to react, but it sure as hell wasn't going to be happily. "My...my father? You're my father? And you're a god?"

Hades nodded. Astria scrutinized him carefully. He was wearing black jeans and a grey t-shirt with a skull and a line from Hamlet emblazoned on it. He had dark hair, like hers, and extremely dark eyes that, as much as Astria was loath to admit it, matched her own. Hades—her father—had a silver skull ring on his left hand and an intricate obsidian wreath of bones on his right. _Interesting rings,_ she thought. _At least my father has a sense of style._

"So let me get this straight; my own father, a _god_, didn't save my mother and sister? My own father, a _god, _didn't help me through years of living on the streets, travelling through the countryside, and fending for myself? My own father, through nine years of barely surviving, didn't lift a finger to help me?" said Astria, getting angry. Who was he, to waltz in when something good finally happened in her life, and tell her that she was the god of death's daughter?

Hades sighed. He seemed to have expected this. "Astria, my dear,—"

"Don't call me_ '_dear'. I'm not your dear." spat Astria, turning to leave. Hades caught her by the arm.

"Please. Listen to me." and something in the pleading in his voice made Astria sit down. She nodded for him to explain himself.

"When your mother died, I grieved for her as deeply as anyone else. I wanted to help you, but...but I couldn't. To reveal myself to you, to aid you, would have been like sending a flare that you were my child."

"So?" asked Astria coldly.

"Don't you see? You would have been targeted, not just by monsters, but by my own family." Hades cast a bitter glance at the sky. Thunder rumbled. "They would have killed you. I couldn't let that happen. So, I helped in other ways. I had the Furies send you feelings about people, and places, to guide you away from monsters. I sent myriads of child services agents to put you into foster homes, but you seemed to dislike that idea. And then, I suggested to my niece, your Lady Artemis, that what she seeks might be in this area, in the hopes that she would meet you. And she did. And you became her Hunter, my little crow." He smiled sadly.

Astria stared at him. As much as she wanted to stay angry at him, she couldn't. What he said made a certain sense, and—and he was her father. "I forgive you." she said.

Hades smiled with what looked like intense relief. "I can't stay long. My wife, Persephone, waits for me in the Underworld." He saw Astria's raised eyebrows, and barrelled on. "I have these for you. You need a better weapon than that knife," he said, pulling out a pair of sheathed daggers. "I must go. Train, hunt, and develop your powers." Lord Hades handed the daggers to Astria. "My little crow, I may not see you for a while now, but I am always watching."

That struck Astria as a tad creepy, but she guessed that was what parents did. She took the daggers and balanced them in one hand. "Wait! What powers?" she asked suddenly, realizing something that hadn't been explained.

A rare smile flashed across Hades's face. "My daughter, there are benefits to being a child of the gods." Then he melted into the shadows, and disappeared.

Astria was hoping that she would now have some time alone, but within a second, Thalia was racing into view. "Astria, was that Lord Hades?" She looked sleepy and bleary-eyed, as if she had just woken up.

"Yeah, yeah, he said he was my father."

"Your—" Thalia gaped slightly, and then beamed. "Then we're cousins!" She sat down on the recently vacated boulder and listened to Astria's recount of the conversation.

"I wish I could say that was unusual, Astria, but most demigods don't have the greatest relationship with their godly parents. But those daggers. May I see them?" Astria passed the daggers to the lieutenant, and watched her inspect them closely.

"Gods above!" exclaimed Thalia. "These are Stygian Iron."

"What?" asked Astria, taking back her daggers.

"Stygian Iron. It's a kind of magical metal, made from iron mined in the Underworld and forged in the River Styx. It can sever the soul of any being it touches, and disintegrates inanimate objects. It's very useful. Only children of the Underworld can wield it." explained Thalia. She yawned.

Astria widened her eyes at the mentioning of 'severing a soul' but her curiosity was now piqued. What would a soul-severing dagger look like? She drew one of the daggers; it was a bit longer than a foot, though the blade was about the length of her forearm, and wicked-black. It looked as though it was made out of polished obsidian, and radiated a kind of cold that reached into your bones and stayed there. The handle was unadorned, with a swirling grip and a smooth round knob on the end. "Wicked," she said, sheathing it quickly. Thalia looked as though she were about to fall asleep sitting. "Come on. Let's go back to our tents."


End file.
